The one which went way over the time frame.
(alternative title: Oops)
March 3, 2026
Well, we can no longer have "No orders go past the stated time frame" on the site header. They never have before to the best of my memory and records, but one slipped last in mid January. I don't know quite what happened, but can speculate that there was a system glitch in either the payment processor itself or my VPS. About every three to four months the nameserver will have a hiccup then start right back up within a couple minutes, or any number or momentary outages. The main issue was that we didn't catch this. The payment came through, the order itself did not. We received no notification and the customer's order was not in the system. Normally, what happens when you're shopping on our site (and most others) is when you're filling out your information at checkout and get to the payment page, the order is made there, but hangs as in progress for several seconds until the payment is finalised and their system says "okay" which triggers the full completion. The order itself has a timestamp of around 2-5 minutes before the payment transaction. Like ordering at a fast food restaurant, and they have your selections keyed in, but it's not really an order until you hand them a payment. In this instance the customer placed the order, paid, and stood there waiting at the counter (very patiently I might add) for over a month. Somehow the tag with the sandwich & fries never made it from the register to the kitchen area. Or in this case, completed through the store's database to result in a processing order (with its email notification to both parties). Completely our fault. Well, my fault, as I really should have seen the discrepancy. I did look through all the other transactions for a couple weeks before and after this one to make sure it was an isolated event, and hopefully we will catch any such repeated occurrence right away.
The customer very graciously allowed a long time, and politely asked about their order about six weeks after it had been paid for, and as far as they knew, placed as normal. We refunded the full amount and sent their order the next shipping day. This all to me is a horrible mark (don't do anxiety, kids. It makes your brain irrational) since normally when orders get to the last day of the time frame - which only happens during busy sales and some new releases, sometimes I start refunding a few dollars on those which didn't get shipped until the 6th day on a 2-6 stated span. Small retailers, particularly where the products are not mass-produced or pre-ordered, can of course have greatly varying and often long time frames before shipment (vast majority of independent beauty & personal care companies are great about processing your order, shipping within the expected time, and reasonably resolving issues). But barring unforeseen emergency circumstances, ought not to go unreasonably beyond customer expectations, nor make the customer contact them repeatedly to find out what happened to their purchase. I'm absolutely not trying to say "wow look at the great thing I did! Now watch while I pat myself on the back yet again" because no, I feel awful about it all, even through the customer here was extremely gracious (honestly doubt I would have been).
If for some reason you happen to see an incorrect item or quantity on your receipt, confirmation not received nor in your account history, do not receive a parcel or its tracking doesn't update after a while, please let us know as soon as possible. There are enough stresses in the world being further stressed over something fun you treated yourself to.
-T.